Fruit Trees, Hike, Goodbye Shoes

I hung out with my friend Tavi this morning. I’m totally envious of Tavi, for a couple reasons. First of all, he has a super cool job: he’s an aerialist. Yep, an acrobatic, ultra-flexible, death-defying performer. You can catch him right now in a show called Cirque Berserk, playing in downtown Los Angeles – go here for info and tickets (act fast – it closes this weekend). I’m also envious because Tavi has fruit trees in his backyard. Two grapefruit trees and a tangerine tree. Check out his fruit!

I totally wish I had fruit trees. How fantastic would it be to wake up and think, ‘I want some juice this morning’ and then walk 15 feet and pluck some grapefruit off a tree! Since Tavi has more tangerines and grapefruit than he knows what to do with, he let me help myself, which I did:

Tomorrow morning, I’m making some juice!

Tavi and I also went on a great hike this morning. The last time I went hiking with Tavi, which is documented here, it involved a burned-out bridge, leaping over creeks, and coming across a naked old man. Needless to say, hiking with Tavi is fun! This morning we went to Fryman Canyon, a nearby trail in the Hollywood Hills. I’ve been to Fryman before, on an early morning hike with my friends Jen and Tiffany. I told Tavi this, and he says, “you’ve probably been on the main trail. I go on a steeper, tougher, narrower trail.” Yep, it’s fun already!

He was right. His trail was tough. I was out of breath at times. It wound up and down through the hills, through canyons, alongside ridges, and through countless different types of terrain: lush tropical rain forest-lookin’ parts, sloping fields of 6-foot shrubs, rocky chasms with streams at the bottom… and there were some great views, too! Like this one:

There was also a fallen tree than we walked across:

And a random trapeze tied to a tree (why I’m the one holding it, and not Tavi the aerialist, is a good question):

Oh and did I mention Tavi got a great parking spot?

Near the end of the hike, we had to come down a steep ridge. Tavi ran down it, full speed, but I was a wuss and negotiated it foot by foot:

It was on that descent that I decided to was time to say goodbye to the pair of shoes I was wearing. They’re Under Armour shoes, and I loved them, but I wore them out, and they don’t have any traction anymore. No good. I bought them probably over a year ago, and wore them as gym shoes for three or four (or six) months. When I got new gym shoes, I kept these around to wear occasionally: like when it was rainy outside, or when I went on hikes and there was the potential for lots of dust, dirt, or mud. But just a few minutes before starting to write this post, I tossed them down the trash chute, into the dumpster.

Goodbye shoes, you served me well.

Oh, and that hike? It was nearly two hours long.

Keep it up, David!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Just coyotes and snakes. And it’s not the middle of nowhere, it’s literally in the heart of Los Angeles! Minutes from Universal Studios, and our hike started on a residential street. Welcome to Keep it up, David!

Now that is a far cry from the Michigan weather. I lived in Michigan for 30 years and I know how brutal and actually depressing Winter is up there. Enjoying nature while getting a great workout is the best way to enjoy exercise.

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In A Nutshell

A big hello to everyone that’s discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I’m glad you’re here.

My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I’m 38 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good – I’ve lost and kept off 160 pounds! But it’s a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I’ll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!